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Ontario teachers college raises concerns over bill to protect students

A proposed bill to protect Ontario students is “flawed” and could see educators found guilty of serious misconduct remain on the job for months during an appeal, and also lead to hundreds of disciplinary decisions removed from public view, says the governing body for the province’s teachers.

“When we saw the bill and noticed a few discrepancies, we met with the minister’s staff to draw their attention (to the issues) and hoped it would be modified,” Michael Salvatori, CEO and registrar of the Ontario College of Teachers, said in an interview after releasing an open letter to the education minister.

Michael Salvatori, CEO and registrar of the Ontario College of Teachers, sent an open letter to Education Minister Mitzie Hunter expressing concerns about Bill 37, the Protecting Students Act. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

However, he added, little was changed. “This is perplexing for us.”

Bill 37, the Protecting Students Act, enforces stricter rules when it comes to abusive situations, automatically revoking a teacher’s certificate in cases of sexual abuse or child pornography charges, and forces all disciplinary decisions to be made publicly available.

On Thursday, Education Minister Mitzie Hunter told reporters at Queen’s Park that the bill, which she recently reintroduced, “is about ensuring that we have a fair and efficient and transparent process.”

“. . . We’ve actually followed very, very closely former chief justice Patrick LeSage’s recommendations and have put those into place,” Hunter said. “We’ve had input from all sides of this issue, ensuring that we have a bill that responds to the fairness as well as the transparency that was very clear” in his report.

The bill, as it now stands, would remove 376 of 834 disciplinary decisions now available online within the next three years, the college said in its letter.

“Significant among our concerns is that information that has previously been considered available to the public will not be when the law is rewritten,” said the letter from Salvatori and chair Angela De Palma. “. . . Decisions with findings of professional misconduct in which (disciplinary) terms, conditions or limitations have been imposed on a member’s certificate would be no longer available.”

Hunter said the three-year suggestion came from LeSage, and that “I want parents to know that teachers who lose their teaching licence because they are convicted of sexual abuse or misconduct will never have that information removed from the Ontario College of Teachers website.”

The college also warns that teachers found guilty of physical abuse or serious misconduct will be able to keep teaching during should they choose to appeal, and that teachers could escape allegations of sexual misconduct if they marry a student.

Salvatori said the appeal process “could be months, or up to a year” and feels that when teachers are found guilty, that should be caution enough to keep them out of the classroom.

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“It would be a significant period of time,” he said of an appeal. “Our point is that if the panel feels the need to revoke (a teaching certificate), there’s compelling evidence, then students are at risk.” (Teachers found guilty of sexual abuse or child pornography could not return to work under the legislation.)

The spousal exemption is there to protect teachers who are already married to a person younger than 18, given the legal age of marriage in Ontario is 16, said education ministry spokesperson Heather Irwin.

“Marrying a student after preying on them will never protect a teacher who commits sexual assault,” she said.

Conservative MPP Steve Clark accused the government of “trying to rush everything through with limited public hearing.”

The bill was revived in October after first being introduced three years ago, after facing numerous delays.

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